Rhythm, Beat and Melody

It’s a time of change as summer gives way to autumn, the children return to school after the long summer break and we begin to think about Halloween, Bonfire Night and (dare I say it?!) Christmas…

It’s also a time of change for us as we enter a new month and move from exploring ‘Habits’ in our groups to ‘Your Team’. It was in this in-between space that I had an amazing session with my thinking partner.

What’s a thinking partner?

A thinking partner is someone with whom you think – sounds obvious doesn’t it?

A thinking session is very structured, with two people spending equal amounts of time thinking and listening to each other, with time for appreciation at the end. If you’d like to read about this idea in more depth I’d invite you to take a look at Nancy Kline’s book, Time to Think.

Rhythm

In this particular session, with my thinking partner Andy, he decided to think about rhythm. He shared what it meant for him. I hadn’t ever really thought about rhythm, but what I had noticed when I came back from holiday was that stepping back into work had been surprisingly hard, even though I love what I do.

I couldn’t work out why it was so difficult to do the things that gave me such joy before I had gone away. As I heard Andy talking about the rhythms in his life I realised that I had had a rhythm change. Both being away and being at home were great rhythms but they are, without doubt, different. The pace is different. Noticing this allowed me to resist less and adapt more.

Beat

Then there was the beat. On holiday we had a pattern to most days, it was a walking holiday where we carried our stuff from hostel to hostel. There was the consistent beat of packing and walking, resting and photo taking, arriving and eating.

On my return home I got back to my regular activities, my morning meditation and yoga practice, my daily walk and my regular networking. This transition felt a bit clunky for the first few days but once I recognised it as the beat to my life I realised that this helps keep me on track.

When I have the things that nourish me as a regular rhythm everything else works. It is my self-care habits, and I include networking as one of these, that enable me to have variety too.

Melody

I see the variety in my life, which I absolutely love, as the melody, varying in pitch, tone and frequency from one week to the next.

Although I tend to resist routine, I realised from my conversation with Andy that I also need the Beat and the Rhythm. With these two things securely in place I can really play with the melody, it can be spontaneous, harmonious and sometimes completely off-beat!